Crowded field of candidates in Texas comptroller race stress experience

Monday

Feb 10, 2014 at 6:26 PM

Enrique Rangel

AUSTIN - Over the years few people have run for Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, even though he or she is the chief tax collector in the state and oversees 2,700 employees.

What's more, four years ago no Democrat bothered to run, and Republican incumbent Susan Combs ran unopposed in her party's primary - just as it happened in 2006 when she first ran for the office.

But this year is a different story.

Combs is not seeking re-election, and four Republicans are vying for the open post in the March 4 primary, a record number of hopefuls for the office - at least in modern times.

As it is the case in other crowded GOP races, state Sen. Glenn Hegar of Katy; state Rep. Harvey Hilderbran of Kerrville; former gubernatorial candidate Debra Medina; and former state Rep. Raul Torres of Corpus Christi are stressing their conservative credentials.

But more than anything else, they are squabbling over experience and qualifications.

For instance, Hegar said his 11-year experience in the Legislature - the last six in the Senate - plus growing up in his family's rice farm outside of Houston where he started out sweeping floors and taking out the trash, give him what it takes to be the Texas comptroller.

"I know what it's like to meet a payroll," Hegar said last week at a candidates' forum sponsored by the Texas Association of Business. "I know what it's like to worry about continuing to run a business."

Hilderbran, who was first elected to the Texas House in 1988 and has chaired the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee since the 2011 session, cited his legislative experience and business experience.

"I am uniquely qualified for this post because of my private business experience, my management experience, my leadership skills, my experience on ways and means," Hilderbran, a 1983 Texas Tech graduate, said at the same forum. "My experience as chairman of ways and means has allowed me to see what is working and what is not working."

Medina, the only GOP hopeful without legislative experience, cited her career in the health care industry as one of her biggest assets.

"I have nearly a 30-year experience on health care and business and for the last 12 on health consulting," said Medina, a tea party favorite who unsuccessfully challenged Gov. Rick Perry in the 2010 Republican primary.

As for Torres, as he has done since the beginning of his campaign, he stresses the fact that he is the only certified public accountant in the race and the only one to have ever worked in the comptroller's office.

"So, what do I bring the table?" Torres asked. "Twenty-three years of finance, accounting, auditing, budgeting, revenue forecasting, expenditure forecasting. Those are real issues."

Hilderbran, Medina and Torres have also made Combs' tenure a campaign issue.

"You can say that it is an agency that has an adversarial culture," Hilderbran said. "Unfortunately for the state, she loses a lot more than she wins."

Medina and Torres gave Combs a C- grade.

In recent years Combs has come under fire, especially for her 2011 revenue forecast and an information breach that compromised the personal information of 3.5 million Texans.

Her 2011 forecast forced the lawmakers to tackle what they thought was a $27 billion shortfall that forced them to make massive budget cuts, including $5.4 billion to public education funding.

In addition, in 2011 Combs' office revealed that personal information - including names, addresses and Social Security numbers - was inadvertently disclosed on a publicly accessible state computer server for at least a year.

It is the biggest information breach in Texas history and one of the largest in the nation until then.

Though Hegar has not criticized Combs (she endorsed him), as in any state agency, there's always room for improvement, he said.

"The part that I think needs to be worked on is the core functions of this office and the core functions are, No. 1, customer service - particularly tax issues," he said. "That is the core function of this office."

Eddie McBride, CEO and president of the Lubbock Chamber of Commerce, who attended the candidates' forum, said he hopes the voters take a good look at each of the candidates before casting their ballot.

"The person we choose as comptroller is going to be extremely important to the business community because, obviously, the way taxes flow and the way taxes are collected are very important to businesses," McBride said. "I am not saying that business people are more knowledgeable about what goes on in the political environment."

But the fact that the agency collects taxes and what it does impacts the entire state, not just businesses, should be a strong incentive for all voters to take a good look at each of the candidates, McBride said.

"It is not our job to tell people who to vote for, but to take a look at the candidates and make sure they understand what the issues are," McBride said of the chamber's involvement in its get-out-the vote campaign in almost every election.

If no candidate gets at least 50 percent of the vote, the two top vote-getters will face each other in a May 27 runoff.

The winner will then face Houston businessman Mike Collier in the Nov. 4 general election. Collier is running unopposed in the Democratic primary.

enrique.rangel@morris.com

(512) 673-7553

Never miss a story

Choose the plan that's right for you.
Digital access or digital and print delivery.